Curtis LeGeyt to replace NAB CEO Gordon Smith in 2022 but don't expect policy changes on performance rights for recordings

 

By Emmanuel Legrand

Former Oregon Senator Gordon Smith, who has served as President and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) since 2009, will step down from the organisation at the end of 2021, to transition to a 36-month advisory and advocacy role. His successor will be NAB’s Chief Operating Officer Curtis LeGeyt, who will take on his new position on January 1, 2022.

  LeGeyt (pictured, below) has been with the NAB for nearly a decade, serving for the first five years as NAB’s EVP of Government Relations before being appointed COO. He was involved in many of the recent legislation and regulation proposals involving radio broadcasters, including the passing of the Music Modernisation Act, which did not include performance rights for sound recordings.

  LeGeyt is not expected to change NAB's policy with regards to performance rights and continue to fight against any attempts to change the consent decrees ruling rights societies ASCAP and BMI.

Competition from digital services

  Analysing the challenges ahead for the NAB, David Oxenford from law firm Wilkinson Barker Knauer wrote that "many issues remain for broadcasters – some of them ones that have never gone away completely." He listed the sound recording performance royalty for over-the-air broadcasting as an on-going issue, as well as "other music licensing issues calling for changes to the way that songwriters and composers are compensated, generally calling for higher payments or different compensation systems."

  Overall, for Oxenford, "competition from digital services may well be the biggest current issue facing broadcasters." 

  Mitch Glazier, the Chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), welcomed the elevation of LeGeyt and praised Smith for his tenure at the NAB. "We do have a very good personal relationship with both Gordon Smith and Curtis LeGeyt and, personally, both of them are absolutely wonderful people," Glazier tells Legrand Network. "If you are going to fight on policy, then to be able to have on the other side somebody that you genuinely like, and with whom you can communicate, is definitely an asset."

Allies of copyright issues

  Glazier goes on: "I only have wonderful things to say about Gordon and Curtis. To their credit, both are forthright, and honest and good folks. To that extent I am very happy that Curtis is going to be following Gordon, and sad to see Gordon leave because he is such a gem."

  Glazier says that except on two major issues, the interests of NAB and RIAA are usually aligned. "When we're talking about copyright generally, and working to preserve strong copyright laws, NAB is usually an ally and a supporter, because most of the time the copyright community is together to preserve copyright and that includes the copyrights involved in programming," Glazier says. "Generally, on copyright, we are trying to find how we can work on together, especially with the TV side."

  He adds: "Most of the time, generically, we are fighting on the same side. But when they are the users of music, whether it is keeping rates for songwriters very low or ensuring that they maintain their exemption so that they don't have to pay artists and record companies, then we are on the other side."

A grave injustice

  Glazier elaborates: "On a policy level we still believe that their exemption from the broadcast performance right is a grave injustice so we are going to continue to fight to try to achieve that. And we are going to continue to stand by songwriters to make sure that they get their a fair share from the rates."

  Glazier believes that legislation on performance rights on recordings "is going to be introduced again [in Congress], and broadcasters will once again introduce their resolution, to oppose it. Honestly, this issue is an issue of time because as we move forward and access to FM programmes over an antenna declines, and over a mart phone increases, radio will be paying for music under the current law."

  He continues: "I think that the focus of the issue is going to change. It's going to shift to those who have a national digital presence, like the big guys, and ensuring that there is competition as we move forward. That's the challenge for the NAB, besides the tension that already exists between the TV side and the radio side, they also have to recognise the different situations that the big broadcasters are in versus the real local broadcasters, and the different needs that they are going to have going forward. So this issue is going to come to a head because of the marketplace. It is a pretty strange law if you have to pay somebody else's copyright depending on which technology you are using to access the same programmes. They can't help the fact that people aren't going to use antennas any more. Time is on our side, I would say."

Give the lion's roar for broadcasters

  The NAB represents some 10,000 commercial radio stations in the US and is known to be one of the most influential lobbying group in Washington, DC.

  “It has been my great honor to give the lion’s roar for broadcasters – those who run into the storm, those who stand firm in chaos to hear the voice of the people, those who hold to account the powerful – and to stand with those of the fourth estate who have the hearts of public servants," said Smith (pictured, below).

  “I am honored and humbled to be named the next leader of this great organization,” said LeGeyt. “To represent the broadcast industry and the local stations that bind our communities together in a moment of such tremendous change across the media landscape is a privilege. Our stations’ role in communities across this country has never been more important, and I look forward to working every day to ensure their ability to grow and thrive.”